


Brand New

by grenadinehart (CompletelyCreative)



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Autumn, Carnival, F/M, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 11:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8247212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CompletelyCreative/pseuds/grenadinehart
Summary: In which Riley hates change, and Farkle gives it a brand new meaning.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fic for Anon!
> 
> "Riarkle in a carnival maze and they end up kissing in the hay"

“Farkle! Farkle -- Where are you?” Riley rushed about, her hands in front of her so not to crash into any unexpected walls of hay. As soon as she had stepped into this maze, she had been lost, and as night continued to fall, she found it harder to see where she was going. If she hadn’t gone in for one express purpose, she wouldn’t have considered going in at all. “Farkle! I can’t find you!”

“That’s the point, Riley!” Farkle’s cheerful voice came from somewhere to her left, but it felt farther away than it should’ve been. “You have to find me to get your prize!”

She breathed a cloudy sigh of contempt and tried to hide her creeping smile, even though no one could see her. Part of her wanted to just sit down right where she was and think about all the ‘prizes’ that could’ve been in store for her at the end of this maze. Where her and Farkle’s relationship stood, it could go from a purple turtleneck sweater (as if she didn’t already have four), to a purple mark on her neck that those purple turtleneck sweaters would in fact do well to hide. Part of her didn’t know which one she’d prefer… one? The other? Both?? A third part of her wanted to run as fast as she could to find out which one it really was. And a fourth part of her just wanted to get some cotton candy. 

Farkle’s favorite time of year was fall, in those brief weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving where the leaves are just beginning to fall and the animals are starting to quiet down and the days get shorter every day. But it never had any meaning to Riley. To Riley, it was when colors -- her favorite colors -- turned brown and the animals turned hostile and the world got darker and darker. It was a particularly unremarkable season to her, and she had believed that for all of her 15 years.

And yet this small little block of the big, cold city seemed just a bit different.

Just as Riley was about to call Farkle’s name again, a gust of wind blew through the carnival, sending hats flying and leaves twirling. She could hear children screaming from far away of… joy? And she almost expected Farkle’s beanie to come floating her way. But instead the aroma of spiced cider made her feel unrealistically cozy, and her cheeks pinched at the wind, and the clouds tumbled over themselves to reveal a full, bright, orange moon. 

This couldn’t be fall. The fall that Riley knew wasn’t bright, or cozy, or full of commotion and color. It was hibernation, it was staying in bed, it was the act of falling, which she did quite a lot. This here, this Wizard-of-Oz, Alice-in-Wonderland hoax of time, couldn’t be real. 

Riley was not a fan of change, and fall was the worst of all.

“F-Farkle!” she set off, suddenly terribly aware of her surroundings. “Farkle! Where are you, Farkle?”

Who knew that mazes were so… Maze-y? At one point, Riley felt like she just looped back around to her original place, but she refused to stop and look -- she didn’t want to look at Fall. Once she’d reach Farkle, maybe it’d be summer, or even winter, where things were stagnant and lazy and colorless, and loss wasn’t a real thing, because everything was already gone. But not fall. She simply didn’t want to believe that fall was beautiful.

So -- as she does -- Riley drew herself into a sort of frenzy as she ran, tripping over old roots and almost crashing into carved pumpkins. She found herself yelling Farkle’s name, 

At last, she crashed through a bundle of rose bushes to find herself sitting on the floor of a clearing. 

“Farkle! Far-- Farkle?” her yelling trailed off as she realized her surroundings. All around her were orange candles and goofy jack-o-lanterns, tied to an overhang of intertwining branches and sunflowers. The ground she sat on wasn’t cold, or hard, but warm and soft, strewn with bright -- not brown -- leaves and hay. There was no sound in the cavern save for the breathing of the wind that filtered through the branches and brushed her pink cheeks, and the light of the harvest moon illuminated spots on the ground. And sitting, just in front of Riley, was Farkle, smiling with rosy cheeks and holding a cup of warm cider for her to take.

Riley was speechless. Of all the things she had expected for her ‘prize,’ it certainly wasn’t this. In the definitions of their relationship, they had never truly been on a real ‘date,’ and she was never sure where feelings stood, but this was no mistake. It couldn’t be. Still, she was speechless… well, almost.

“Just a minute ago, I was terrified of all of this,” she looked around, eyes wide. “I was terrified of change, and how it represented itself. But now...”

“Now, you see why I love fall. Change is the best thing for growing up, and I’ve still got a lot of growing up to do. But the stagnation of it, the warmth…” Farkle looked around at the flickering candles and the apple cider, and smiled. “It’s the best thing. And it’s only here for a little bit.”

Riley sighed and sat back.

“But why did you do all of this?” She gestured towards the lights and the pumpkins, and he smiled like he had been waiting for that question the whole time. But instead of answering, he instead asked a question in return.

“Do you love fall?” Farkle asked, glancing down to her scarf. Riley sat in silence, thinking about that way of fall, and thinking about him, and how she sort of wouldn’t have minded staying in that little cavern forever. 

“I suppose I do.” And Farkle’s small smile suddenly broke into a big grin, one meant for summer, for life, not for what Riley had thought of fall for so long.

“Then I can finally say that I love you.”

Then Riley suddenly found herself break into a smile not quite as big, but a big smile nontheless, and suddenly she understood it all, whatever ‘it’ may have been, and suddenly the cider was on the ground and she was on top of him, kissing in the hay, and fall had a new meaning.

Yes, it a brand new meaning.

**Author's Note:**

> My [tumblr](grenadinehart.tumblr.com)  
> My [fic network](riarklefanfiction.tumblr.com)


End file.
